Dutch Coffee tutorial
Step by step to perfection
Dutch Coffee tutorial: Brew the ultimate pot of Dutch Coffee
Even though brewing the best cup of Dutch Coffee is quite easy the process deserves a little more attention than brewing a simple pot of coffee. To guarantee that you’ll be able to enjoy the most delicious cup of Dutch Coffee of the beans you selected we advice you to use the procedure described below. You can use these steps as a starting point for brewing Dutch Coffee at home. Every used coffee might take some ‘tweaking’ of the factors described in our tutorial. If you want to know more about how to further perfect your Dutch Coffee make sure to read our blogposts as well. There are four major factors in brewing Dutch Coffee. These are: the ratio of water and ice, the amount of coffee, the coarseness of your coffee grind, and the selected drip speed.
Step 1: Selecting the perfect Dutch Coffee beans.
Start with selecting the perfect coffee. Dutch Coffee is perfect for filtering out the fruity flavors of the used coffees. Therefore we prefer to use light roasted coffees. They’ll enable you to taste more of the original flavors of the used coffee that would be overshadowed in a darker roasting profile. If you’re really gong for the fruity flavors unwashed coffees will provide you with the ultimate surprise! If you want to use Dutch Coffee as a replacement ingredient for cooking you might want to consider using darker roasted coffees.
Step 2: Preparing your Dutch Coffee maker and selecting the right grind of your coffee.
The second step is preparing your Dutch Coffee maker for the brew. Place the cotton bottom filter in the coffee ground holding glass. This filter will make sure you have a clear cup and will stop ground coffee from entering your pot. The amount of coffee used will partially determine the strength of your coffee. As a venture point: we use about 9 grams of coffee per 100 gram of ice water. Surely more coffee will provide you with a stronger cup. The strength of your coffee can also be tweaked with the grind you use for your coffee. We use a coffee grind of 6,5 on a 9 point scale. This grind is in between the grind used for filter coffee and the grind used for french press. On top of your coffee you place the paper topfilter. We recommend to moisten the paper filter before placing it on top to enhance the equal spread of water over the coffee ground.
Step 3: Filling the topreservoir of your Dutch Coffee maker
The water and ice are placed in the top reservoir of you Dutch Coffee maker. The ratio for a ready to drink Dutch Coffee is around 10 grams of coffee per 100 grams of ice water. The amount of ice you should put in your water depends on the temperature of the room you’re brewing in and the drip speed you have selected. Because it’s the icy water that cools the coffee ground the basic idea is that the final piece of ice will have melted near the end of the brew. For a room temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and a brewing time of 6 hours we use 50% ice and 50% water. When brewing faster or in a cooler room you can use less ice and more water.
Step 4: Selecting the right dripping speed of your Dutch Coffee maker
The last major factor in brewing Dutch Coffee is the dripping speed of your Dutch Coffee maker. You can adjust the dripping speed by turning the valve at the bottom of your top reservoir. As a starting point you can set your Dutch Coffee maker to drip approximately four times per 10 seconds. Due to the changing water pressure in classical Dutch Coffee makers, a full top reservoir will drip faster than a top reservoir that is half full or almost empty. When you’re not able to check on your Dutch Coffee maker during the brew, we use the following trick. Once you have your Dutch Coffee maker set for the brew, fill the top reservoir with 1 cm of water and adjust the valve until it releases one drip extremely slowly. After adjusting the valve, fill the rest of the top reservoir. This way, the process will always be completed, even when you are not able to check on the brew.
Step 5: Prevent oxidation of your Dutch Coffee
It goes without saying you don’t make Dutch Coffee to heat it up once the coffee is brewed. When the coffee warms up in a non sealed container, such as the pot of your Dutch Coffee maker, the coffee will start to oxidize and thus lose it’s flavors. If you are away from home for a while, consider placing the pot of your Dutch Coffee maker on ice, to cool your brew. After pouring your coffee from the jar into a bottle (with as little oxygen in the bottle as possible), you’ll be able to store your coffee for at least two weeks. As with good wine Dutch Coffee will ripen further once bottled. Your bottled Dutch Coffee will taste best after three days in the refrigerator.